


The 31st

by Zig_Zag_F1



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Awkwardness, Cute, Established Relationship George/Alex, Fluff, Halloween kinda thing? Sorta, Headaches & Migraines, Kissing, M/M, Nighttime, No Sex, One-Sided Attraction (maybe?), Sickfic a little bit?, Sneaking Around, Swearing, no costumes, no supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-15 23:37:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zig_Zag_F1/pseuds/Zig_Zag_F1
Summary: George and Alex have a moment.Elsewhere, Lando has a terrible migraine and leaves to go to bed. Max comes by to check on him.Only VERY slightly Halloween related.





	The 31st

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a random little thing that's only VERY slightly Halloween themed, really barely at all, so don't be surprised by that.

"Jesus, it's loud in here," is the first thing Max says when he walks into the huge, echoing room full of team members and drivers laughing and drinking. Lando laughs nervously next to him, hands shoved deep into his hoodie pockets and hood still up over his head. Chaos reigns, with people scattered everywhere in small groups and pairs, laughing and talking and...doing whatever the fuck else. Some guy jumps off the table next to Lando and holds up a cup, shouting, "Happy Halloween!" Lando covered his ears as he continued to try to keep pace with Max and follow him through the mess of people. 

The lights were so bright and on a long table there were decorations encircling platters of food and coolers of beer and other beverages. Max went straight for the beer, cracked one open, and sighed with pleasure. Lando stood next to him awkwardly, leaning against the table and looking around the room. Loud laughter drew his attention to his left, where he could see Daniel dressed in some outlandish, far too colorful jacket and pants, making some wild gestures as he told Charles a story Lando couldn't hear. Charles was obviously amused, watching him intently, and then suddenly Daniel's hands snaked out and grabbed Charles' waist and tickled him, Charles howling with laughter and trying to fight him off. In his effort to escape, he knocked a chair over and there was a loud bang, but no one paid any attention. Charles fell into a chair and Daniel continued to tickle him for a while longer while a desperate Charles tried to push him away. 

Lando looked back to Max, who had finished one beer and started on a second. Max glanced at him and Lando raised his eyebrows, but Max only responded by pulling Lando's hood down off his head. "We're inside now, you don't need that anymore, silly," he said, and Lando tried to crack a smile. "Do you want anything to drink?"

Lando shook his head. 

"Okay," Max shrugged. "I'm gonna grab some food though too. You want to go find us a place to sit?"

Lando nodded, and Max turned away to get a plate. Scanning the room, Lando tried to find a quiet corner, but he didn't see any space there. There was a table in the back, though, and he walked towards that one and sat down. There was no one at the table and the nearby tables seemed to be a little more empty, and Lando sighed with slight relief, resting his chin on his hand and his elbow on the table. He knew Max had just gotten back from California and must be hungry, but he did hope he wouldn't want to spend all night in here because then Lando would be forced to choose between staying with his friend or going to bed and trying to get rid of his migraine. 

His head throbbed intensely. Honestly, he wanted to go crawl in bed right now, but...he'd missed Max, and now Max was back, and he didn't want to go to bed in his dark, quiet hotel room (good as that sounded) and miss seeing Max tonight as well. 

Closing his eyes, Lando tried to suppress the pain in his head and waited for Max to join him. 

********************

George looked at the clock. He thought Alex was supposed to be here by now, but it was later and later. He'd seen Max, he'd seen Daniel, and he'd even heard Valterri's named called outside his window earlier, but Alex was nowhere to be found. His phone was frustratingly silent as well, and that only made things worse.

He was about to text Alex again, but he decided against it and went and lay down on the motorhome couch instead. He covered his head with the thin blanket there and was still, just breathing in and out. Really he wasn't sure why he was so on edge. He'd just spent the last weekend with Alex as well, down in Mexico, and Alex had only been gone for a few days, but here he was, laying around with a blanket over his head like a pathetic child. Maybe it was because it was a holiday? He didn't know. 

Eventually he slept.

He still hadn't seen Alex later that evening, so he took himself rather grudgingly down to the halloween celebrations and found himself sitting next to Robert and drinking a beer while the two of them ignored the chatter and stared off into space. George briefly wondered what Kubica was thinking about, but his mind quickly drifted back to his own miseries. 

After he'd drained his beer, and still barely said two words to Robert, he felt annoyed by the whole damn thing and especially by the fact that none of it had Alex anywhere in it, so he stood up.

"Leaving?" Robert asked blankly.

"Yeah, see you later," George told him, and he put on his coat and headed out the door. Once outside, he decided it wasn't that bad. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to Williams anyway. Better to just take a walk for a while, and maybe Alex would finally decide to text him back.

******************

Lando spied Alex entering the room before Max had returned. In fact, Max had gotten caught up in conversation with Hulk about something, and Lando was considering ditching the whole place himself when he noticed him. He waved, expecting Alex not to see him, but he did, and he grinned and walked over. 

"Hey, how was your trip?" Lando asked, trying his best to look cheery. 

"It was fun! It was great, really! It's fun to drive in front of the crowd with no race to win," Alex replied, swinging a backpack off his shoulders. "Hey, have you seen Max? This is his, he left it earlier."

"Yeah, he's right there," Lando pointed. "He asked me to find us a seat but he's been taking so long I'm not sure if I'll wait much longer."

Alex glanced at him, seeming to notice that something was off. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Lando insisted, forcing a smile. "Just tired, you know." 

"Me too. Hey, would you mind if I left this bag with you? I've got to go find someone and I don't want to carry it around anymore."

"You could've just left it with Red Bull," Lando said sourly. "After all, it's not like you have to look out for him or anything."

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Just trying to be nice."

"Yeah, well. I'll give it to Max if he ever decides to stop talking," Lando conceded, feeling a stab of guilt for being rude. He briefly wondered why he was upset at Alex for trying to be helpful to Max. 

"Thanks Lando. Hey, also, have you seen George?" 

Lando shook his head. 

"Okay, thanks anyway. I'll see you later. Thanks for giving that to Max!"

And Alex was off, weaving his way through the room, looking over people's heads for someone.

Lando dropped his forehead down to his folded hands and sighed. After a moment, he looked up and Max and Hulk were still chatting. Annoyed, and feeling sorry for himself, Lando dragged himself to his feet and swung the backpack Alex had left with him over his shoulder. After watching Max for a few more minutes, he trudged towards the door and let himself out into the night, shouldering Max's heavy backpack as he made his way towards the Mcclaren Motorhome, head still throbbing and tears for some stupid reason threatening to spill over. 

***********************

Alex found Robert on his fourth beer, sitting at a table alone, staring off into space. 

"Hey, Robert, have you seen George?" He asked timidly. 

"Yeahhhh," Robert drawled out, looking up at him. "A while ago."

"Did he leave?" 

"Yeahhhh," Robert said again. "Don't know where he went."

"Thanks," Alex replied hurriedly and strode quickly towards the door. 

Outside, it was dark, and the wind was chillier than Alex would've liked. He zipped up his coat and made his way towards Williams, expecting to find George there, but when he arrived, he was informed that no one had seen George since he left for the halloween party.

Alex was left confused, looking out into the dark, up and down the walkway. There was no sign of anyone. Worried, he quickly began to retrace his steps, heading towards the party room again, but he saw no sign of George anywhere. 

"George?" He questioned the darkness. No answer came. Frowning, Alex picked up his pace and walked past the loud party noises and down the walkway, glancing right and left as he went. He saw nothing. 

Further on down the sidewalk, it was even darker, and there were no lights. He hurried on anyway, wishing his phone wasn't dead, and looking about anxiously. _George, where are you?_

A few more paces onward, Alex spotted an odd shadow near the edge of a utility building, and he smirked to himself. _Well, it is Halloween. _Silently, he crept up along the wall of the small building and peeked around it. George was a little ways beyond it, sitting in the grass, head tilted to look up at the stars. 

Alex smiled to himself and watched him for a few seconds, almost deciding not to be mean and scare him, but in the end, his sneaky side won out and he quietly crouched down and ran the few paces up behind George, slid his arms around his chest, and gently put his teeth on George's neck.

****************

Mcclaren arranged for his ride to the hotel, and, after succumbing to tears and crying for a while, Lando contemplated texting Max. He didn't want to sound upset or annoyed about how ignored he felt, even though he was both of those things, and he definitely didn't want Max to think he was needy and immature, so he was about to not text him at all. But then he remembered Alex and the backpack and he realized that Max might need whatever was in it, so he should probably let him know he had it. 

With a sigh, Lando took out his phone and texted Max. **Hey, Alex found your backpack and brought it over while I was waiting for you at the party. I brought it with me because I didn't want anyone to take it. So if you need it, I can bring it to you.**

He wondered if that was too hard edged, or if it would show how frustrated he was, but he sent it anyway, too sick to care. His head was so painful that everything was too loud, including the vibration from his phone when Max texted back.

**Where'd you go? I was just talking for a few minutes.**

Lando sighed again and tried to think of a good reply. He didn't want to admit how much pain he was in, especially not to Max, _Super Max_. But he couldn't think of anything and his head was not at all helpful, so he just decided to say fuck it.

**I'm at my hotel. Got a bad migraine.**

Max didn't take long to respond. **Why didn't you say so? I wouldn't have dragged you to the party, you could've just gone to bed."**

But that was the problem. Lando didn't want to go to bed, not then, and not now, headache notwithstanding. He wanted to be with Max. But that was not the kind of thing he was about to admit, so he just texted: **It's no big deal. **

**I'll come get the bag myself, don't worry about it. What hotel and room #?**

Lando froze, heart pounding. This was not how it was supposed to go. Max was not supposed to show up here. Quickly, he typed a message: **It's all good, I'm already having the driver bring it over. **It was a lie, but it would be okay, he would tell the driver that in a moment. But before he hit send, there was a new message from Max. 

**Nevermind, got the info from Carlos. Be there in a few mins.**

Lando smacked himself in the forehead and saw stars. Pain coursed through his brain and he almost started tearing up again, but stopped himself just in time. Fuck! Fuck! 

This was the last thing he needed right now. Max was the last person he could face in this state, the last person he wanted to see him like this. But it was too late now.

He ran into the bathroom to wash out his swollen eyes as much as possible.

************

George screamed, long, loud and very much more highly pitched than he would've liked to admit. Panicking, he struggled wildly for a split second until he heard Alex's voice in his ear. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's okay, it's just me!"

The arms around his waist released him and George turned around to face Alex, who was kneeling on the ground behind him. 

"Jesus fucking Christ," He breathed, heart only now starting to regulate. "What the fuck?"

Alex hung his head. "Sorry, I thought it would be funny."

George wanted to be madder at him, he really did, but he couldn't. Not when he'd been sitting out here under the stars wishing for Alex to show up, and then there he was. Maybe not the way he expected, but still. 

"Why didn't you text me?" He asked accusingly. "I've been worried about you!"

Alex looked even more like a sorry puppy. "My phone died. I forgot to take a charger. You're the one who always reminds me, and without you, I forgot."

George rolled his eyes. "Did you get held up or something?"

"Red Bull meetings. 2021 stuff," Alex explained quickly and carelessly. "I'm sorry I scared you." He reached for George and George relaxed and leaned into him. Alex kissed his cheek first and then down his neck. "Aren't you cold out here?"

George shrugged. "I dunno. I just didn't want to deal with people anymore."

Alex smiled. "Okay." He shifted so that George could lean against him and he could wrap his arms around him and put his chin on George's shoulder. "Missed you," he whispered in George's ear, his breath light. 

George twisted around and kissed him full on the lips, eyes fluttering closed for a moment. "I missed you too."

They pulled apart quickly though as they heard running feet and looked at each other frantically as they tried to put a little more space between their bodies as someone approached. 

It was actually two someones. Daniel and Charles rounded the corner and dashed across the field to them. 

"Is everything all right?" Daniel called out. "We heard screaming."

"Yeah," Alex answered as they got closer. "Everything's fine. I just scared George, that's all."

Daniel looked from Alex to George. George looked embarrassed. 

"Was that you, screaming like a girl?" Daniel teased. 

"Shut up, he scared the fuck out of me," George complained. 

Daniel and Charles laughed. 

"Okay, just checking," Daniel said chuckling. "We'll be heading back to the party now." And he turned away, Charles following him as they ran across the field and Daniel did a weird little skip in the air and Charles laughed at him. 

When they had gone, Alex looked at George with eyebrows raised. "There's no way they heard us from the party," he observed, smirk starting to hover on his lips. 

George caught on and shook his head, and then he frowned. "Did you notice that Charles' clothes were full of dirt or something? He looked like he'd been rolling about in it."

Alex smothered his laugh with his hand. "George, George...Daniel had dirt on him too. There's no way they were at the party when they heard you scream."

George just shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Mucking about someplace else, I'm sure. And I bet they're not going back to the party either."

Alex just snorted and suppressed more laughter. In the silence that followed, they could hear Charles laughing from somewhere further away and then Daniel joining him.

Alex pulled George closer to him again and George put his hands on Alex's face and kissed him. 

"If they come back and see anything," he said, leaning back into Alex again and linking their hands, "We can just blackmail them."

Alex's laugh rang out and when he leaned in and kissed George again, his lips were still raised in a smile.

*************************

When the knock at the door came, Lando had dried his face, neatened his clothing, changed out of the ratty shirt he was wearing into something more presentable, and even made an effort to control his wild curls. But try as he might, his eyes remained miserable looking and his head was still threatening to suffocate him with the unbearable pain. 

He stumbled to the door in the dim light, having left only the small bedside lamp on in an effort to keep it dark in the room. When he opened it, the light was blindingly white and it hurt. He had to block it with his hand and grip the doorframe as a wave of pain came over him. 

"Hey, hey! You don't look so good," Max's voice said from the hallway. He grabbed the door from Lando and came inside, shutting it behind him quickly. Lando made his way to the bed and sat down, feeling off balance and too dizzy to stand. 

He could hear Max kicking off his shoes and coming towards him. "I'm all right," he tried to say, but it was a mumble. 

"I don't think so," Max said firmly. "Have you had anything to drink lately?"

"You have," Lando remarked smartly.

Max snorted. "We're not talking about me, and we're not talking about beer. Have you had any water lately?"

"Can't remember," Lando told him, finally forcing his eyes open and looking up at Max. Max shook his head and grabbed the phone from the table. He pressed a few buttons and called for room service. Lando didn't hear what he said, or at least, not coherently, because he was too busy falling into a heap on the bed in spite of himself, eyes squeezed shut tightly. 

Max returned suddenly and Lando could feel himself being lifted and his head placed on the pillow. Max pulled the blanket down and then covered him with it awkwardly, sort of patting the sides down around Lando. If he hadn't felt so shitty, Lando might have laughed.

"Okay, do you think you'll throw up?" Max asked anxiously. "I can't deal with the throwing up stuff. But I can bring you the trash can if you think..."

"I'm not going to throw up," Lando reassured him, forcing his eyes open again. Max smiled down at him, a little awkward still, but it was nice. Lando felt something pleasant about it, despite feeling terrible. 

There was a knock at the door and Max sprang to get it. He came back with water bottles and an ice pack, which he placed on Lando's head. It immediately fell off, and he replaced it carefully. 

"There," he said nervously, and Lando smiled at him. "Now, water." He opened the bottle and helped Lando sit up before giving it to him. "Drink up."

Obediently, Lando did. When he stopped, Max made him drink more until he was satisfied. Lando groaned, but he did as Max instructed. 

"Good," Max announced, and he put the waters on the bedside table. "Now, I'm going to turn off the light so it's darker in here for you, and then I'll get my things and go."

Lando's heart sank at that, and before he could stop himself, he heard himself saying, "Max..."

Max seemed to pause somewhere in the room. "Yes Lando?"

"Would you...stay?"

There was silence for a second, and in that second, Lando felt certain he was going to die of embarrassment and misery and not of the migraine at all.

"Yeah, okay," Max said nonchalantly, and Lando could hardly believe his ears. "Just don't kick me or anything while I'm trying to sleep."

"I won't," Lando promised, and he hoped his body would cooperate with that promise. 

Max switched off the light and Lando felt him sit down on the bed opposite him and lean against the headboard. 

"You can leave the light on if you want to," Lando offered, rolling over to look at Max in the dark. He was afraid suddenly that Max might feel weird and decide to go after all. He wanted more than anything for him to stay, even if the only thing he did was sit there next to him. 

"It's all right," Max answered quietly. "It's Halloween anyway, right? Maybe I can tell you some scary stories in the dark!"

Lando laughed in spite of his headache and the ice pack slid off his head. He fumbled around for it, leaning over on the bed, and his cheek brushed against Max's thigh. Max found the ice pack and put it back on top of his forehead then, but his cheek still pressed against Max and Max made no move to push him away. Lando kept his eyes closed and they lay there in silence for a long time. 

Max eventually opened his phone (Lando could tell by the tiny sounds) and then Lando could only assume Max was scrolling through instagram or something. 

He didn't move. He was hovering somewhere between sleeping and waking, and he was perfectly okay with this, whatever this was, right here and now. 

And then, just as Lando was about to resign himself to sleep completely, he felt Max reach down and run his fingers gently through his hair, over and over. 

He knew Max must think he was already asleep, so he didn't move, but he treasured it, every second of it, etching it in his memory, willing himself to remember every detail of the way it felt as Max continued to run his fingers through his curls until finally Lando fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!   
I love comments, ya'll have been so nice, so let me know what you think.
> 
> As usual: It's fictional, don't repost it or copy it or god forbid show it to anyone in real life. Thank you!


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